The Annual Greatness

The time has come to talk about More Songs About Her, the 2012 release by Secret Powers. It is the band's fifth album – and the fifth excellent album in a row. Not every band releases five albums this good in (less than) five years! I don't seem to be able to stop listening to these albums anymore...

Compared to What Every Rose Grower Should Know (2011), many songs on the new album seem to have a slightly more serene feel. Still, More Songs About Her rocks just as hard as the band usually does. Secret Powers don't really change their sound: there is nothing to fix as the sound is already perfectly balanced. Shmedly's studio and his fantastic talent as a producer is definitely one of the band's greatest assets. On a Secret Powers album there are always lots of nice additional details that enhance the overall sound. Be it strings, organ, piano or something else, everything is perfectly in its place.

And not only is Shmedly impeccable in the studio, he has once again written about half of the songs and they are all brilliant. Ryan Farley's Running at This Pace is also really catchy, and I especially enjoy him singing Shmedly's Not That Kind of Girl, another song with perfect solo guitar work. John Brownell, the new guy, has provided three songs. Post War with the fantastic Allman Brothers guitars is one of my favorites. Impossible Girl has some real kick, and Caroline towards the end of the album is a nice slow song with rather disturbing lyrics...

Every other song that I haven't mentioned yet is also great. There are absolutely no weak moments on this album. The obvious highlight is Hard to Be Someone, a supremely sympathetic song that sounds a lot like Shmedly's personal anthem and quite a tribute to his downshifting lifestyle. Superb!

However, Troy Warling is not on this album. I miss Troy...

Secret Powers bandcamp

Crazy About Secret Powers

I am currently feeling a bit intoxicated because of Secret Powers. In order to become really special to someone a band/artist must have the ability to attract a person to listen to the same music all over again and go back to the old songs after exploring other types of music. Secret Powers does all that and more.

It is no coincidence that I am once again very much drawn to a band labelled as power pop by both the band and the power pop blog community. Most of my all time favorite bands have had an essentially similar approach to music.

Jangly, bouncy, rocking guitar pop, power pop, Not Lame pop... Something that may not be the most innovative music but year after year on gives homage to some of the most cherished melodic pop-rock music of the past decades. Sometimes power pop assimilates features from the current best-selling pop music but power pop is always at its best when it is not trying to develop into anything that doesn't do justice to its guitar-laden, hook-filled, happy/sad mid-tempo magic.

Call it what you like! I call it melodic, bouncy, catchy, sentimental Beatles-influenced non-hipster pop-rock. Or briefly: power pop.

My first contact to Secret Powers occurred only about a year ago. Their second album had gained attention in several blogs that I happened to read at the time when the album came out. It took me a while to find time to check it out. Soon after listening to that album I ended up buying all of the band's albums. I still think there is something strangely magical about the 2nd album (Secret Powers and the Electric Family Choir, 2009) which could mean it is the best Secret Powers album. All Secret Powers albums are equally good but I would say that the 2nd album has an even more special feel to it than the other albums.

Now I find it strange that I wasn't totally convinced about Lies and Fairy Tales (Secret Powers 3rd, 2010) at first. Now I don't seem to have those thoughts anymore. Lies and Fairy Tales has revealed all of its beauty. I am currently drooling over it while waiting for the new 2012 album to arrive.

So, what is great about Lies and Fairy Tales? Ryan ”Shmed(ly)” Maynes, as always, gives us many great songs including Tangerine, Cows, Cracks on the Wall, Opening Band and others. Troy Warling, John Fleming, and Dan Strachan have also taken part in the songwriting. It seems that the other members become more activate little by little which is of course great. Multivoiced songwriting can be a huge asset.

A closer look at Secret Powers music always reveals something added there to make it more interesting as a whole. Something unexpected is very likely to happen in a Secret Powers song. Often that unexpected thing is a cool instrumental solo, a tempo change or, for instance, a lovely part of harmonic oohs and aahs. It could also be a magnificent bridge melody (check out Riding the Shark).

It is stange that you may not even pay much attention to those cool parts even though they are most definitely one of the things that sets Secret Powers apart from your average pop band. These carefully constructed parts spice up the songs and give them new dimensions. Therefore the songs always sound like they were created by people who have vision, style and courage to try new things. Just listen to pretty much any Secret Powers songs and you will hear samples of this creativity. Here are a few examples: the baroque piano solo and the following vocals in Cows, the ”explosion” in Cracks in the Wall, the enormous guitar solo at the end of The Lie, or the very Styx-like part starting at around 2 minutes in Just Might.

I'm So in Love is definitely one of my favourites on the album. The title reveals quite a bit about the song, and I would go as far as to describe the mood ecstatic. The vocal sound reminds a lot of Teenage Fanclub. Don't forget to pay attention to the very nice instrumental bridge.

Ryan Farley's Feels so Good comes with big energy while Troy Warling's New Skin is more peaceful and acoustic. To me, Miss Lonely (also by Warling) might be the most memorable song here. The song indeed is a cradle of peaceful melancholy and harmony and I often find myself enjoying the magical interplay between the drum beat, rhytmic details and the song itself. I think Warling sounds a lot like Glenn Tillbrook which is obviously awesome!

As I said, I am waiting for the new album More Songs About Her to arrive in a couple of days. There is a sampler of the album at secretpowersband.com. Also check out four songs from Lies and Fairy Tales at the band's MySpace.

Gardening Tips

As I already wrote about the Secret Powers and the Electric Family Choir album I don't think I need to talk more about it. Listen to it, I guarantee it is some of the best 21st century power pop you can find.. If not some of the best 21st century music. I think I will have to skip Lies and Fairy Tales (2010) for now and maybe get back to it later. Today it is time to talk about What Every Rose-Grower Should Know, a 2011 release, the very latest album by Secret Powers. When it comes to this band I think their most strangely-named albums might also be their best.

I like to think about the first album as stylewise the most coherent Secret Powers album and the Electric Family Choir as the most versatile album. What Every Rose-Grower Should Know lies somewhere between these two albums: the soundscape is quite coherent all the way but there are clearly also songs performed in different styles.

Generation Ship has already been declared as “the closest to ELO you can get” or something like that. The song definitely reminds of ELO, though not so much that you wouldn't be able to hear a strong Secret Powers signature in the song. Maybe needless to say, I enjoy this song so much that I used to listen to it many times in a row... There are however other great songs on this album as well. Tarantula comes next, changing the mood to beatlesque – I love it! Then follows Secret Powers' Styx moment (yeah!): What Every Rose Grower Should Know. If anything that riff reminds me of those cool fuga-inspired things that Styx/Dennis DeYoung have occasionally used. The drums in this title track are awesome, as well as the psychedelic background vocals in the chorus.

Candy is real candy. Just give me bouncy bubblegum rock with gentle vocals – and resistance is futile. The same is pretty much true of Crocodile, but instead of bubblegum there is real ear-melting harmony heaven, a definite romantic song for romantics. They got me, I confess...

I'll Be Home sounds like an ultimate Ringo Starr homage. The topic of the song is very serious but the performance always brings a smile to my face. It Should Have Been Me, a joined Secret Powers songwriting effort (a really catchy one, too), has a slightly harder edge. Still, despite its rocking feel the sound is not very hard-rocking. I love the psychedelic organ.

Objectively you might say that the songs in the end of the album are not the strongest material Secret Powers has to offer. However, I enjoy those songs a great deal. Well, yeah, My Idea is not the best Secret Powers song ever but I don't dislike it. It is OK. Besides, the guitar solo is cool!

There you have it, another awesome Secret Powers album. Now that I think about it, is just seems to get more and more difficult to decide which album I like best. I used to listen this album dozens of times while riding my bike all around in the sunshine. There is more to this album that just music... Wonderful memories and charm, too.

Explorers of Greatness

Now, something I was planning to write months ago but everything else got in the way. Secret Powers caught my attention with their second album ..and the Electric Family Choir (2009) already in the spring. Soon the band earned a place in my heart and all I could listen to was that strangely named album... I had to get more stuff from the band so I ordered everything the band had released. After a recording career of four years there are already four albums available which is admirable in its own right. Not only are Secret Powers prolific, they also create high quality pop suitable for anyone who enjoys traditional '60s-influenced pop music.

Secret Powers mix elements from the Beatles and ELO with genuine songwriting talent, really good lyrics and gorgeous sounds and arrangements. Explorers of Solar Eclipse (2008) is the first album by Secret Powers and it is indeed a great debut album. The cover is snowy and arctic and it somewhat describes the mood of the album: fresh, bright sounds with a melancholic, yet hopeful feeling. I often find myself comparing Secret Powers to Wondermints. In a way the Wondermints debut album comes to mind, even though Secret Powers music is not equally dreamy. Still, there are similar cleverly constructed Beatles references – it also has to be pointed out that the band's own voice is also very strong.

Compared to the later albums this one is more Shmedly-oriented. Band leader Ryan “Shmed(ly)” Maynes is responsible for all composing work with the exception of Kitty on the Brain (written by Troy Warling). He also sings lead most of the time and does a good job with his gravelly yet melodic voice. Smedly's piano is also one of the dominant elements on the album, making the music even have some similarity to Keane's piano pop at times (just listen to Jenny). There are of course guitars, too, and actually the piano/keys make a very balanced combination with guitars.

We Are Alone is a perfect opener with lots of bouncy groove, ELO-like piano and sounds layered with style. Awfully Nice and Place I Can Breathe are all strong, catchy songs that explore the ever so interesting world of semi-happy, semi-melancholic music. Counting Stars (hear that drive!) represents Smedly's interesting way of occasionally writing songs that, in my opinion, don't seem to have very conventional choruses. Therefore the chorus of Counting Stars sounds to me more like a bridge. Anyway, this bridge-like chorus is really cool and makes the song all the more interesting – not to mention the long instrumental solo with cool background vocals in the end!

Rose repserents the typical Secret Powers ballad. Magical it is, indeed.. Similar, possibly even more lovely and gentle ballads can be heard on the later albums. There is strong material even at the very end of the album. Funniest Girl in the World is a melancholic schlager with accordion and jazzy piano. The final song Walking with That Doll has the magical, soft Secret Powers harmonies that I bet anyone would enjoy.

Generally speaking, Explorers of the Polar Eclipse is a strong album with great songwriting and impeccable pop/rock sounds. I enjoy sensing the mood changes as the album progresses as well the overall coherence and continuity that the album has from beginning to the end. Musically, the album feels like a continuing story. It is always a joy to hear this album. Sometimes I have found myself thinking if this is actually my favorite Secret Powers album. The Electric Family Choir is a tough competitor, I have to say...

Secret Powers on MySpace Secret Powers website

New Video from Secret Powers

Secret Powers are my latest huge new favorite I am definitely going to discuss the band in detail later. While I'm trying to find some spare time to do it, here is a new video for a lovely, lovely song from the 2011 release from Secret Powers, What Every Rose Grower Should Know: Generation Ship. I have listened to this song dozens of time and I still love to hear it.. obviously!

In the Heart of Pop

For some reason it is not very easy to discover new excellent bands. I don't work too hard trying to find them but I think I have discovered a new one. Originally I saw the name Secret Powers in email newsletters from Not Lame. I had even ordered myself an album by the band but never really had time to get into it... I got several other cool CDs at the same time.

A few days ago I decided to check out an album by Secret Powers: Secret Powers and the Electric Family Choir (2009). The album cover seems to refer to a sunshine pop band of the 60s but the music is something a bit different. The overall feel surely is all about spectacular 60s pop hooks in the spirit of the Beatles. There is also a lot of influence from ELO: big harmonies, beatlesque melodies. The result sounds quite a bit like Wondermints which is always a good thing. Extra points go of course to great songwriting and arrangements and musical variety – a country song in the middle of the album is just cool. To cut a long story short, and even though my acquaintance with this band surely has been short, I am most definitely willing to announce Secret Powers as classic pop perfection!

So, even at first this album sounded really interesting. I was probably too stressed out to be able to hear the absolute beauty but now I am starting to hear it. One of the best things is that Secret Powers has released several albums during a relatively short time period. I am going to get them all.

I can't help loving the dramatic feel of Lazy Men, soft pop of By the Sea, Treat Your Mother Nice (Beach Boys, anyone?) and Misery (ELO alert!!), country of Ghost Town, Wondermints psych-pop of You Know It's Time... Everything here is really good. Gee, I am just really excited about this stuff! It is melancholic (but so is ELO, too), creative, carefully arranged and has soul.

Many popsters have already checked this band out but if you haven't, go ahead... There are some really excellent songs at MySpace. On the website there are some videos, including one for Orange Trees which is a song from the Electric Choir album. The video has some quite violent imagery but I guess that is the point of it.

All in all, lovely music... I'm in love.

Secret Powers WebsiteSecret Powers at MySpace